Woman can serve sentence at home, judge rules

A woman who stole more than $69,000 from her boss and tried to pin the crime on him will be allowed to serve her jail sentence at home, a judge ruled Tuesday.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice William Grist handed Lana Korol a 23-month conditional sentence. For the first six months, the woman must live in house arrest and wear an electronic ankle collar so authorities know where she is.

Korol was convicted of theft over $5,000 after a trial earlier this year. The evidence showed the woman stole several days worth of cash deposits from Boston Pizza, where she worked as a manager. The money was supposed to be put in the bank, but never was.

When the thefts were discovered, Korol tried to suggest it was the restaurant's owner who was responsible. She maintained that claim at the trial, but Justice William Grist dismissed her story as incredible.

This was the second time Korol has been found guilty of the offence. She was granted a retrial after she successfully appealed her first conviction. She was sentenced to 18 months in jail after the first trial, but was granted bail after the new trial was ordered.

Korol was more recently convicted of obstruction of justice, by sending an anonymous letter to The Daily News claiming the jury in her first trial had been tampered with. Police later determined the letter was printed from Korol's computer. She was given an 18-month conditional sentence, including 12 months house arrest.

She was also sentenced to 18 months in jail on the original theft conviction, but released after the Court of Appeal granted her a new trial.

Korol now lives in Saskatchewan with her young daughter, who was born just after the end of her first trial.